Polling Day, May 5, was a long day for me.

I started work as a polling clerk at 6.30am and sat on a very hard wooden chair till 10pm when another half-an-hour was spent dismantling the polling station.

Then home to watch election results on telly till I fell asleep.

It was a real fun day in many ways. Lots of things surprised, encouraged and delighted me.

The turnout was well in excess of 60 per cent.

The number of people who came to vote with good spirit impressed me - the way the vast majority brought their polling cards was helpful and speeded the process up no end. Many families came together and talked to their kids about what they were doing and let them put the ballot papers in the black box.

The two main candidates - Conservative and Labour - turned up at the station and gave us encouraging words and my co-workers were fun and made the day go with a swing.

The downside was several people went away dissatisfied - some had been registered as postal voters without their knowledge and had not received postal voting papers so were effectively disenfranchised as we could not allow them to vote.

A few newly-eligible voters (just 18) had not received poll cards and found their names had been missed off the electoral register - this is particularly distressing as it may influence their pattern of voting or otherwise for many years to come.

Lots of people (all ages) didn't seem to know the routine - they didn't know whether they should put a cross or tick in the box, they didn't recognise the polling booth for what it was, they didn't know they could only vote for one candidate, they didn't even know what the ballot paper was for or even expect to get one in some cases.

They turned up, got their name checked on the register and thought that was all they had to do.

Strange, but it indicates a lack of preparation by government, parties and media in educating the public in the process.

-Ian Lawes, Brighton